Denim is usually a fabric someone throws on without thinking, a pair of jeans or a jacket. For Cincinnati designer and model La’Rico Grady-Engleman, it’s the starting point for his entire brand, where couture meets urban on the runway, where every piece is one of a kind and every look is rich with community stitched into every seam.

Grady-Engleman began as a model and has been one for 8 years now and two years after he started modeling, he started producing fashion shows; however, he hasn’t produced a show since he became a designer. “That’s where all my time has been,” Grady-Engleman says about designing. “I’ve just been working on my craft, designing things. So, when I wanted to do another fashion show, I already knew that I wanted it to be a brand show.”

His upcoming show, Run Me Down in Denim, is set to take place at 3604 Montgomery Rd, at 3 p.m. on March 21, 2026. There, his own designs, centered entirely on the denim fabric, take the stage rather than him producing someone else’s show. “Denim is very rough and has a hard edge,” Grady-Engleman says. “I like working with it, because you can do so much with it. You can create so many patterns and textiles just from the same pair. You just have to know how to use it, and that’s one of the reasons I fell in love with it. ”

Grady-Engleman has always experimented with fashion, even back when he was a teenager. “I’ve always been designing, but I’ve just started taking it seriously,” he says. “I was always trying to dibble and dabble with everything, all different types of fabrics.”

With his experience and talent, the denim skirt he made for a friend went viral on social media, which led him to stick with the fabric for his brand. The work for Run Me Down In Denim began back in November of 2025, when his good friend, David Cho, reached out to the designer to see if anyone was seeking a studio. “I was already in the beginning stages of planning the show,” Grady-Engleman says. “So, I reached out. I did a walk-through and automatically saw the vision, especially for my brand show.”

The studio, as Grady-Engleman describes, is intimate and anticipates audience will feel everything from the runway and that it is the perfect place to see the mix between typical couture looks with a more urban style.

“I always want to create things that I know anybody could wear,” Grady-Engleman says. “I don’t want my work or designs to become repetitive. I want to show something completely different.

His brand, however, is more than just about denim and the mix of couture and urban; it’s about the community that helped him bring him to where he is now.

“The city always comes out, they always support me,” Grady-Engleman says. “My shows are packed out and I always try to bring community in my shows, whether it’s a little bit or a lot.”

Community has always been a big part of his fashion identity; even when he was younger, he would bring his talent into his community. “In my neighborhood, I would just make, like, everybody’s pants,” he explains. “I would literally cut up pants and would do my little gift to them and once it was done, everybody in my neighborhood had a pair of my pants on.”

The community will once again show up for his runway show on March 21st at 3604 Montgomery Rd at 3 p.m. He hopes audiences come to his show for a good time and to see denim come to life. “Denim can be beautiful,” Grady-Engleman says. “It’s not just a pair of pants or a jacket. It could actually be in couture.”

The work is just beginning for Grady- Engleman, but he has no plans of slowing down. At the end of the year, he’s hoping to produce and design another show catered to men. “It’s gonna get bigger and better,” he says. “I’m not stopping any time soon.”